Spot the doctor while you wait

A plethora of nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters now adorns a wall at Glaziers Lane surgery in Normandy. The mural is the work of, left, Michele Petri of Normandy, and her friend, Jo Birkby of Knaphill.

The surgery in Glaziers Lane has its share of glossy magazines and a toy box but now something new is there to amuse the patients. One wall has been given over to a humorous scene of traditional fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters each with the recognisable face of doctors, pharmacists and receptionists.

Waiting patients find themselves drawn into a spot-the-doctor game which provides an amusing pastime. The clever and colourful mural is the work of Michele Petri and Jo Birkby. Neither are professional artists although their work is far from amateurish. The two young marrieds met when their children were at Shepherds Hill Nursery. They became friends and painted their first mural on the nursery wall. It was a major project that took over a year to complete.

Mrs Birkby, of Knaphill, said they bounced ideas off on each other and worked well together. "We sketch out the general theme and do the background and then add the characters. The background at Normandy took two weeks then we added characters each week and that took several weeks," she said. The painting is about 12ft long.

The two women have now drawn up a questionnaire relating to the mural for children visiting the Normandy surgery to keep them amused while waiting.